Goalie great Gump Worsley dies

Lorne (Gump) Worsley, the Hall of Fame goaltender who died on Friday in his 78th year, did it the hard way: He worked for it.

Lorne (Gump) Worsley, the Hall of Fame goaltender who died on Friday in his 78th year, did it the hard way: He worked for it.

Worsley, who won four Stanley Cups with the Canadiens (in five seasons in the late 1960s) died at the Honore Mercier Hospital in St. Hyacinthe after he suffered a heart attack on Monday.

He had been ill for four years, his wife, Doreen Chapman, told The Gazette last night.

At 5-foot-7, 180 pounds, he looked nothing like a professional goaltender - but you don't play 21 seasons in the NHL without bringing something special to the arena.

He started his NHL career with the New York Rangers, bringing with him quick hands and feet - and a quicker lip.

Mind you, he didn't have a lot to laugh about on a team that made the playoffs only four times during his decade on Broadway - but Gump always found a way.

Phil Watson, one of his many coaches with the Rangers, once described Worsley as someone who carried around a "beer belly."

Worsley's response: "Tell Watson I drink only V.O."

Once, when he was asked which team in the Original Six NHL gave him the most trouble, his prompt reply was: "The Rangers."

Worsely was traded to the Canadiens in 1963 along with Dave Balon, Leon Rochefort and Len Ronson for Jacques Plante, Don Marshall and Phil Goyette.

For Worsley, it was a trade made in heaven, going from a team that had made a career out of losing to one with a mystique for winning.

He was injured in his eighth game in the 1963-64 season and upon his recovery was demoted to the Quebec Aces for the rest of the season. Worse, the injury almost brought an abrupt end to his Canadiens career.

Several days after he was hurt, Canadiens GM Frank Selke Sr. and I visited the Canadiens clinic. Worsley was on a gurney undergoing treatment.

He lay on the table, naked as a bird, and even Worsley would have been the first to admit it wasn't a pleasant sight. Put it this way: He wasn't a poster boy for NHLers dedicated to keeping trim.

GM Selke made it abundantly clear he wasn't impressed with the view. "That guy will never play another game with the Canadiens," he muttered.

Selke was wrong, even though Worsley started the following season in Quebec. He returned to the Canadiens in time to play 19 regular-season games and to lead them to their first Stanley Cup since they won their record fifth in a row in 1960.

He won five of the eight games he started in the playoffs, had two shutouts and a stunning 1.68 goals-against average.

He was even better the following season when he posted an 8-2 record in the 10 playoff games the Canadiens needed to win a second consecutive Stanley Cup.

The Gumper loved to play the clown, but with Worsley in the nets, the Canadiens won four Stanley Cups in five seasons, during which he won 29 of 36 playoff games.

Worsley was special on the ice and off it. He played more than two decades at the NHL level despite a fear of flying that would have driven most people out of the game.

Somehow, he managed to overcome his fright, which tells you all you need to know about the grit he brought to games with the Rangers, Canadiens and Minnesota North Stars, where he was traded by the Canadiens for cash in 1970.

His professional career started with the New York Rovers in the Quebec Senior Hockey League.

After that: New Haven in the AHL, St. Paul in the United States Hockey League, the Pacific Coast Hockey League Saskatchewan Quakers, the Edmonton Flyers and then finally to the Rangers, where he was to devote a decade of trying to make a winner out of a bad team.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980.

The family has announced that at the deceased's request, no funeral service is planned.

Donations can be made in his memory to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

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